Student volunteers to rejuvenate Valley Children’s therapy garden

Student volunteers to rejuvenate Valley Children’s therapy garden

A group of 20 Fresno State student volunteers from the Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning and the campus horticulture unit will replant a therapy garden from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Valley Children’s Hospital.

The students will renovate the quarter-acre garden on the northeast side of the hospital campus as part of the national Make a Difference Day.

Fresno State horticulture unit manager Calliope Correia designed the space’s new arrangement, and her unit will donate the new plants that include grasses, flowers and peach and pomegranate trees. The garden’s plants were chosen based on touch, fragrance, colors, sound and the plants’ ability to be used in crafts such as leaf prints and flower pressing.

“A garden can be a healing place on many levels and is a wonderful feature within a hospital setting,” Correia said. “The garden will be a place for kids, families and staff to connect and interact and can be a source of rehabilitation activities or a place to relax or just enjoy the sights, sounds and smells.”

The space was initially weeded and renovated in April by Fresno State students during the Spring into Service campus volunteer day.

The therapy garden is one of four Fresno State student volunteer sites on Oct. 22 that also include Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Rotary Storyland and Playland and Sierra Foothill Conservancy projects. More information available here.

For more information on the Valley Children’s therapy garden project, contact Yvonne Morris at Valley Children’s Hospital at YMorris@valleychildrens.org or 559.353.6130, or Sven Hamilton of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Central Valley at 559.261.3667 or sven@rmhccv.org.

The Richter Center serves as the organizational hub for Fresno State community and service-learning efforts. During the 2015-16 academic year, the University provided 1.2 million hours of community service to push the campus total over 10 million combined volunteer hours the past 10 years. For more information on the center, contact Taylan Bennett-Parker at 559.278.7063 or tbennett@csufresno.edu.

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